Rats!
by Aelthwyn
Summary: Peter's adventures as a rat.  I immagine Peter finds his animagus form very convenient for all sorts of things, like sneaking midnight snacks, but being friendly with rats might have some unexpected drawbacks.


Just another amusing scene I immagined taking place during the marauder's days at Hogwarts. Of course all the characters belong to J.K.R. although I might take a slightly different spin on who they were 'back in the day.' I wanted to do something with Peter because he's often a bit left out, and well, he's an interesting nut to crack so to speak. I don't immagine he was a bad kid, even if he did go wrong later.

* * *

><p>Something wiggled in Peter's pocket<p>

"Eep!" he jumped up banging his knee on the library desk, making bottles of ink rattle.

Several people scowled at him as he dug in his pocket. He pulled out a rat.

"Tsk Tsk Tsk" Sirius shook his head in feigned self-righteousness, "Now Peter, don't go stealing other people's pets like you do their sweets."

"I didn't steal it!" Peter exclaimed, clearly annoyed at being startled like that. "Is this any of yours?" he said thrusting out his hand for the other students at the table to examine the rat. It was a sleek, black, eager looking creature.

"Oh! Snuggles!" a flustered little first year cried and hurried to claim her missing pet. "She keeps getting away from me, likes to explore." she explained apologetically.

"Hush!" the librarian bustled by and herded the girl back to her seat throwing a reproving glance over her shoulder at Peter. "If you can't keep control of your pet I don't want you bringing it in the library.

"Always gnawing at the corners." They heard her mutter as she left.

Peter and Sirius glanced at eachother with raised brows as Peter settled back into his seat.

"Snuggles?" Sirius snickered under his breath.

"I know." Peter shook his head.

"Looked more like a _Devil_ to me, make sure it didn't chew a hole in your pocket, Pete" James whispered from his other side.

"It's probably just trying to not get itself strangled." Peter said, suddenly taking the side of the creature that had so annoyed him. "Did you _see_ the way she held it?" but no one else seemed to care about the finer points of rat-holding protocol, and they all resumed their studies.

. . . . . . . .

Sometime around one in the morning Peter woke up with a sweet tooth. Slipping out of bed he dropped to the ground in rat form and scampered silently across the room and down the stairs. He stopped to sniff carefully and make sure no cats were lurking about the common room before heading across to the fireplace. It was a bit of a trick to get up on the mantle but from there he found the little chink in the stone behind a Gryffindor banner and squeezed into the little hollow path he'd found that let out on the other side of the wall several feet down from the Pink Lady's painting. The other's would have snuck out under Jame's cloak of course, but although it took longer as a rat, he was guarunteed not to get caught. He headed toward the kitchen dreaming of leftover chocolate cream pie from dinner, which unfortunately didn't travel well wrapped in a napkin in one's pocket.

He'd learned to exchange rat pleasantries with the other real rats that liked to hang around the kitchen, though they had been rather wary of him at first. Tonight there were a few of them nosing about the counters. They turned to sniff at him and then resumed their inspection rounds. If there was any pie left, it looked like it wasn't on the counter. He glanced around furtively, about to switch back to human form so he could check the fridge when there was a noise outside the door. Quick as a wink all the rats scurried toward a hidden crack in the corner, Peter hurrying along with them. He didn't fancy finding out what would happen if he got himself killed in rat form.

Back inside the wall everyone was crowding, sniffing, and climbing over eachother. It kind of made his skin crawl if he let himself think too much like a human, but at least as a rat he was safe here. He tried to spy out the kitchen from the little hole, but he couldn't see anyone. One of the rats seemed particularly interested in sniffing him all over and kept getting in his way.

Then he heard Remus' voice. "Peter? Are you here?"

He made to dart back through the hole, but suddenly found himself pounced upon by another rat. He rolled and wriggled frantically as it bit at his neck and ears. What what this about! Skittering free he faced off with the other rat who made another lunge at him. He turned tail and bolted down the black passage inside the wall to the sound of further scufflings behind him. It must have found someone else to pick on.

He had no idea where he was going. Even with his rat eyes he couldn't see anything in the pitch black inside the wall. But then another rat came up behind him and began sniffing and prodding at him in a way that seemed to say _come on, this way! _ He really wasn't sure what came over him then, but he found himself hurrying after it. This one had a rather peculiar smell which made it easy to follow. They went along the wall and then up a wooden beam, and back and forth through a bit of a maze that Peter was afraid he wouldn't be able to remember.

Finally they came to a halt and Peter could smell a cornocopia of various snacks - apparently this rat's little stash. There was a crack in the wall here which let in some moonlight from the room beyond and he saw a pile of half-eaten things in shiney wrapers, candy bars, bags of nuts and popcorn, even the back end of a chocolate frog (no longer hopping). It wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, but while he was here, his rat nose couldn't help making some tentative sniffs at the little pile. He took a nibble at the chocolate frog, he couldn't help himself, but then decided to peak out the hole, wondering just where in the castle he was.

He couldn't quite tell at first, so he ventured cautiously out into the patch of moonlight cast by the window and peered around. It looked like a dormatory. Peter froze, but then remembered no one would recognize him if they woke up. His little friend seemed to have followed him. He felt its lithe body brush past his own as it crossed the room, and it gave him a little nip as if to say _come on, snap out of it_. He started to get an odd feeling, but was too distracted by trying to gather which dormatory he was now in so that he could plot his way back to the kitchen, or perhaps he ought to just return to Gryffindor tower by now. Remus had probably finnished off the chocolate pie without him, he pouted to himself. Absently he followed the other rat, since it seemed to know where it was going, and he hoped he might be able to get it to lead him back. Only after he'd reached the top of the fabric they'd been climbing did he notice again just where he was.

It hadn't even occurred to him that it might be someone's pet before. But there, sitting on a pillow beside a girl, clear as day now in a ray of moonlight, was the very rat that had been in his pocket earlier that day. He squeaked, and then froze. It wiggled it's ears at him. He didn't know if rats could blush, but if they could he knew he must be bright red just then. For the second time that night Peter bolted not caring which way he went, he just had to get out of there!

It seemed like it took him hours to find his way back to Gryffindor tower, all sweets forgotten, his stomach lurching. It was quite a reliefe to finally change back into a boy again. Impulsively he rubbed his limbs covered in flannel pajamas, not fur, and crawled gratefully into bed. But just as he was about to pull the curtains, he caught sight of a quarter of chocolate cream pie sitting on his night stand. Yes, that was like Remus. He felt bad for expecting otherwise. As he munched on cream pie he wished fervently they'd been able to share it together down in the kitchen, that his whole strange adventure hadn't happened. Ending up in a first-year girl's bed, rat or not, was utterly mortifying. He decidedly banished the thought from his mind and burried his head under the pillow.

. . . . . . . .

In spite of getting so little sleep, Peter woke up early the next day out of troubled dreams. He felt like someone was watching him, but when he looked around everyone was still out cold in their beds. He shivered. He didn't feel like facing his friend's inquiries just yet, so he got up quietly and slipped downstairs to get some breakfast.

His mind was in a comfortable haze after several helpings of eggs and bacon, and 2 and half danishes when he finally heard his friend's voices at the end of the hall.

"Well _I_ didn't eat it." James was saying.

"Hey don't stare at me! Why does everyone always suspect me?" Sirius cried.

"Oh, I don't know…" Remus sounded unconvinced

"You just have one of those faces." James teased and then caught sight of Peter. "Oi! Where've _you_ been all night!" he called down the table as they hurried to join him.

"Keep your voice down!" Peter shot a glance at the teacher's table, tugging James's shirt to make him sit down and stop attracting attention.

"Well where were you? I thought for sure you'd gone to the kitchen." Remus said as they all leaned in eagerly to hear the tale.

"Hmf! Somewhere none of _you've_ ever been." Peter said cryptically, determined not to blush.

"What the girl's lavatory?" Sirius jibed.

"Close." Peter replied blushing in spite of his attempts at composure. They all looked at eachother with raised eyebrows.

"Well come on! Out with it!" James said eagerly.

"Not, a girl's _Dormatory_?" Sirius guessed again.

Peter managed a smug little nod, but then coaxed them all closer to whisper his tale. He played up his fight with the other rat, just a little bit, but when he got to the revelation about "Snuggles" he couldn't prevent himself turning beet red and burying his face in his arms on the table.

"So, essentially you were in a first year girl's bed!" James said with a wicked glint sparkling in his eyes.

"Making out with her pet!" Sirius just couldn't help himself.

"I was not!" Peter cried in horror and indignation.

"Oh, You're never going to hear the end of this!" Remus grinned too, but elbowed Sirius all the same as Peter hid his face again.

After a moment he spoke though the muffling of his robes "Thanks for the pie Moony."


End file.
